Gleason helped create Jazz Information, one of the earliest American jazz magazines, and served as its first editor in 1939, before going on to long stints at Down Beat and as the weekly music columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He co-founded the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958 and, unlike many of his generation, took an interest in rock music rather than cover his ears. His genial visage looks out from the back covers of many record albums for which he contributed sleevenotes.

Biography from Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia (2005).

If you'd like more information, check out The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2002) or The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz (2007), both of which are still in print.